Monthly Archives: January 2016

It’s Saturday…weekend, time to relax. It’s chilly outside. This morning it was snowing, but the snow now turned into rain. I just turned up the heating and made a big pot of tea. Time to write a blog.

The new year has started.
Behind the scenes plans are being made for this year.
One more single and video will be released from the album ‘Sleep Tonight’ and Robb is making plans to record a new album.
There are no big events planned in the near future. We’re having a bit of downtime which we’re using to catch up and focus on what we didn’t have time for during the past year. Time for Robb to write songs, time to do research and find new opportunities and more time to just relax…

sending out orders

eye candy for tech geeks

record collection

Crocheting (yes, I’m a big crochet lover!) and listening to music is my way to relax. I love to cuddle up on the couch with a big mug of coffee or tea. There’s always an unfinished ‘crochet-project’ to keep me busy. To me crocheting is like meditation, it relaxes me and it’s a way to express my creativity. When I’m crocheting I’m always listening to music. Right now I’m listening to the album ‘If I was’ by The Staves. I downloaded that album months ago, but I didn’t start listening to it until a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been listening to it a lot ever since.

I’m a big music lover and so is Robb.
I listen to all kinds of music, from classical music to rock and everything in between, new music, but also music from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 00’s.
Often I’m looking for new music. There is such a great amount of talent out there. I prefer listening to music that usually isn’t being played on the big radio stations. Thankfully there’s the internet and there are numerous ways for artists to spread the music. I’ve been finding a lot of new music in the past few years, due to the work I’m doing behind the scenes for Robb. We found a lot of blogs, magazines and radio shows that do pay attention to new music and there are so many more great sources like YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp etc. to find new music.
We often share links to new music with each other. Last week Robb was all into listening to new music and the idea came up to make a playlist on YouTube of music we like a lot and are listening to at the moment.

Over to you! You can contribute to this playlist as well.
Click on the link below, save the playlist and you’ll get permission to add videos to it.
Add your favourite music, share what you are listening to at the moment. Surprise us! We’d love to listen!

People who’ve been following Robb Murphy and have been listening to his music will know ‘The Darker Side’.
Last week Robb posted a picture on Instagram. The beginnings of ‘The Darker Side’, which brought the idea to write this blog.
A lot of songs have developed in the past few years, but with this song in particular you can hear the difference and how it has grown, because there are a lot of versions to find online.

The Darker Side is one of the few songs from the album ‘Sleep Tonight’ that wasn’t written in Italy. Robb wrote it in spring 2013.
In June 2013, not long after Robb wrote ‘The Darker Side’, he uploaded the demo on Soundcloud.

Robb and the band started playing this song live, but it wasn’t until 2014 before the song was recorded.
During the recordings of the album ‘Sleep Tonight’ Robb wrote several blogs and shared previews of several songs from the album. In July 2013, just before Robb finished the album, he uploaded a vocal taster of The Darker Side on Soundcloud.

Robb finished the album at the end of July 2014. It was sent off for mastering and right after that he and his fiancée went on holiday. During their holiday they filmed several acoustic videos of songs from Sleep Tonight.
One of those songs was ‘The Darker Side’. A different version of the song was born.

I remember hearing this version for the first time and I really loved it. Just like all songs from the album ‘Sleep Tonight’ this song can be played in many ways, full band or just stripped back with only a guitar and vocals.

The album ‘Sleep Tonight’ was released in March 2015. The Darker Side is the first song of the album:

Not long after the release of ‘Sleep Tonight’ Robb was asked to perform an acoustic version of ‘The Darker Side for The Arts Show (BBC TWO).
Due to the great feedback Robb received on this performance he decided to record and a release a new, stripped back, acoustic version of ‘The Darker Side’.

Last summer the band started rehearsing again and the song kept developing.
A tour of The Netherlands was planned in October and that’s when the best version of the song (so far) was recorded during a live session for Live uit Lloyd, RTV Rijnmond in Rotterdam.

Recently Robb donated the album version of ‘The Darker Side’ to AER Music. They’ve put together a CD of local music which they’ll sell to raise money for Love Amy (http://loveamy.co.uk/ )
AER Music was launched in January 2014. It’s named in memory of founder Mark Reids daughter Amy, who passed away from cancer in February 2013. Their aim is support local music and provide a platform to introduce it to a listening audience and through what they do raise funds to support children and young people affected by cancer and invest in its research.

The Darker Side – lyrics

When the night falls in and the nightmares come
When there’s fading light and the day is done
I will fight you ‘till the morning comes
I will guard my heart and steady my head

‘Cause there is hope for all mankind
If we let go of the darker side
There’s nothing here to hold us back
And everything is open wide
If we let go of the darker side

Down the hill and through the pastures
To the old stone smokey house
I’ve not been here for years
Afraid that I will not confide
Not let go of the darker side

Here I am I come to you
With an open hand but life’s tattoo
I will fight you ‘till the night turns day
Everything is open wide
If we let go of the darker side
If we let go of the darker side
If we let go of the darker side

It’s the fourth day of the new year and everything is turning back to normal again. The children went back to school again today and work starts again tomorrow. During the weekend I took down all Christmas decorations and yesterday I started tidying and cleaning the living room. The house feels empty now, but it also feels good that ‘normal’ life starts again.
Time to sit down and write a blog while enjoying a big mug of tea.

Subject of this blog…the album artwork. Those of you who have been following Robb for a while most likely have noticed the artwork of the albums and singles. Even though we’re living in the days of digital downloads and streaming, album artwork is very important. It’s the first thing you see before even hearing the music. Eventually it’s all about the music, but an album without artwork is like a book without a cover. The album artwork reflects and represents the music and the artist and is therefore very important.

The artwork for Robb’s singles and albums is made by Ronan Reid.
Ronan Reid is an artist originally from Ireland, who lives in Melbourne, Australia.
His work is really amazing. Whatever idea Robb has in mind for an album or single artwork, Ro is always able to translate those ideas into amazing covers.
Have a look!

First the artwork of Take A Stand, Robb’s debut album and the singles released from that album.

Below the artwork of Robb’s second album ‘Sleep Tonight’
This album was written in Italy. The cover of the album shows the remote house where Robb and his fiancée stayed during their holiday and where Robb wrote most songs from the album.
The second picture shows what the double vinyl looks like from the inside. The images are places Robb and his fiancée visited during that holiday, places that were an inspiration at the time Robb wrote the album.
The third picture shows two pages from the CD booklet.

Below the artwork of the singles released from the album ‘Sleep Tonight’.

What stood out to me the most was the artwork Ro Reid made for ‘Headstrong’.
I remember that I was blown away by it when I saw it for the first time.
It’s a head with a multilayered timber tunnel representing the self-built inner focus you make to get things done.
Ro was inspired by ‘Inversion’ which was an artwork by sculptors Dan Havel and Dean Ruck. You can read more about it through the following link.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_(artwork)

Goodbye 2015, hello 2016!
Another year has passed. Two days ago I wrote a blog and summed up the highlights of what happened behind the scenes in 2015. It is really good to see that sum up and remember everything.
Yesterday Robb and I were talking about it all. There really is a huge amount of people involved with Robb’s music. Curious to how many people actually were involved in 2015 I started making a list…
I wasn’t aware of how many people we’ve been in touch with and how many people have been supporting Robb’s music in the past year…

and….not to forget….all fans, people who came to the gigs, friends and family…

It’s a very long list of names… It’s really good, but also overwhelming to see this list and become aware of the great amount of people who’ve been supporting Robb’s music.
Thank you all very much for the great support in 2015!!
Happy New Year and best wishes to you all!